


Prejudiced Omens

by LuckyDuck49



Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett, Pride and Prejudice & Related Fandoms
Genre: 6000 Years of Pining (Good Omens), Banter, Combined Fandoms, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Fluff, Historical, Hurt/Comfort, Mild Angst, Mutual Pining, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-11 08:53:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28348710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuckyDuck49/pseuds/LuckyDuck49
Summary: WIP that might just be a one shot. Idk. Could be seen as a P&P AU of Good Omens, or just an Angel/Devil fic of Pride and Prejudice. Either way, its cute and sweet and full of misunderstandings. Enemies to Lovers. Might not finish, but won’t leave on a cliff hanger either :)
Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens), Elizabeth Bennet/Fitzwilliam Darcy
Kudos: 6





	1. It Begins, as It will End, with a Garden

It is a truth, cosmically acknowledged, that an angel in possession of all his or her facilities must be in want of nothing but goodness in the world around them. Of course, this is not, strictly speaking, altogether true. Angels (whether they would care to admit it or not) are not perfect beings. They are heavenly— which is not the same thing at all. Strictly speaking.

One the other cosmic hand, their demonic counterparts do not have such…  _ asterisks _ in their definitions. They define themselves as demonic. Which, though perhaps inadequate for any race of beings, is of course, true, in that it implies imperfection.

Nothing is perfect. But ‘nothing’ is somewhat rare, these days.

These days is, of course, referring to all days. There had been rather more than seven of them so far, and all nice ones at that. Rain had yet to be invented, though the gathering storm clouds east of Eden may disagree in but a few hours. 

The angel of the Easten Gate stretched his wings. The right one had a crook in it, which was uncomfortable. He frowned. Then he turned his ethereal gaze behind him, briefly, before snapping his eyes forward again. It would not do to be caught staring; it was impolite. And angels (but this angel in particular) were nothing if not polite (at least, in his mind they were).

“Well, that went down like a lead balloon.”

The angel glanced over to his right. “Sorry, what was that?”

“I said, that went down like a lead balloon,” the demon answered.

“Ah,” the angel, whose name was Darcello, replied, and said nothing more.

The demon was looking at him. Her eyes were gold, with funny slits running down the middle. She squinted at him. “Hey, didn’t you have a flaming sword?”

“Pardon?”

“Just now, didn’t I see you with a flaming sword?”

Darcello looked down at his robes. He took a moment before answering. He wouldn’t lie, but he was not averse to changing topics to his own benefit. “I don’t believe I’ve seen you before.”

The demon pushed aside a stray curl and smiled. Her teeth were nice— not pointy in the least. 

“Yeah,” she drawled, still smiling, “But I’ve seen  _ you.  _ And you did have a flaming sword— flaming like anything! What happened to it.”

Darcello shifted his weight from foot to foot, uneasy. And not just because he wasn’t yet accustomed to a material form, though that may have been part of it. He glanced nervously up to the clouds, before answering in a tone dripping with reluctance.

“If you must know—”

“Oh, I must,” the demon said cheekily. He condescended to give her a  _ look. _

“If you  _ must _ know,” he continued, “I gave it away.”

“You what?”

“I GAVE IT AWAY!”

The demon (whose name, it might be good to mention, was named Ezilene, though she was thinking of changing it) looked on with an open-mouthed expression that might be construed as a smile. Her eyes were trained on this angel, the so-called ‘perfect being’, as he lost his temper.

“There are vicious animals out there,  _ that your lot put there, by the way,”  _ Darcello said loudly, bitterly, gesturing out at the dunes that stretched on before them, “And Eve is expecting already! What was I to do? Leave them defenseless? So I gave them my sword, said ‘don’t thank, get a move on or the sun will go down on you here’. I know I wasn’t told to do that, but… i-it felt like the right thing, you know?”

Ezilene didn’t know. She hadn’t been involved with ‘the right thing’ for quite some years now. But she nodded anyway, just to be polite. 

“Well, I’m sure it was good of you to do,” she said, archly, “You’re an angel after all. Surely  _ angels  _ can’t do the wrong thing.”

This angel did not pick up on her sarcasm. “Oh, oh, thank you,” he said, breathing out, “It was.. bothering me.”

“So I could tell.”

“Mm.”

They stood there in silence for a while, looking out into the desert. The man— Adam— was swinging a fiery weapon towards a freshly named beast, a lion, if Ezilene wasn’t wrong. She watched the skirmish with some enjoyment as Adam landed a killing blow, and the great beast slumped to the ground. Her enjoyment faded, however, when she made the mistake of seeing her heavenly companion’s face. He looked sad. It was hard to be mischievous when someone looked so glum. Sucked all the fun right out of it.

“I’m Ezilene, by the way.” She stuck out her hand, wondering if he’d actually take it.

“Oh. Right,” the angel said, shaking it without hesitation. Ezilene briefly entertained the thought that he might be an idiot. But no, she knew he was just courteous. Right pity, that was.

“Good to... well, not good, but.. uh, I’m glad to make your acquaintance, Ezilene.”

She watched him. He glanced back at her. She cocked one brown eyebrow. He blushed, and recovered his manners.

“Ah, I’m Darcello. Angel of the Eastern Gate,” he said, looking as if he might shake her hand again.

“Yes,” Ezilene said, with a hint of amusement, “Yes, I know.”

Darcello could have muttered something like ‘of course you do,’ but he didn’t. He didn’t. That would have been rude. Instead, he cleared his throat delicately and attempted to make conversation. 

“So, you’ve been up to Eden before, have you?”

Ezilene nodded, keeping her golden eyes on the dunes. “I was sent up a few days ago. Real vague instructions. Just said to make some trouble.” She grinned, and Darcello noticed a dimple that she really shouldn’t have. “Apple?”

He looked down at the offered fruit with polite distance. “No thank you.”

“Suit yourself,” the demon shrugged, taking a crunch out of it.

“Was that, by chance,” Darcello asked, as mildly as he could, “the apple that tempted Eve into giving up her place in paradise, thereby dooming her to a life of mortal sin and agony?”

“Nah,” Ezilene shrugged, “That one had worms.”

She took another bite. 

Darcello tried not to stare. He had never seen the consumption of food before. It looked… rather messy, but appetizing. Had he been mortal, his stomach would have grumbled. As it were, thunder took up the job for him, though it may have been a coincidence.

Raindrops began to sprinkle the sand below the two immortals. The dots of liquid spotted the stones by their feet. One landed on Ezilene’s arm, and she all but bit her tongue off. It burned into her like acid. Only one thing could do that.  _ Holy water. _

Of  _ bloody _ course! The Great Powers That Be hadn’t seen fit to just have a NORMAL rainstorm to start off with? Now Ezilene, a first (well, technically second) time offender would be reduced to pure pain, then cease to exist! All because she was Fallen. Well, that was just great! She would die, and all because—

Suddenly, belatedly, Ezilene realized that she wasn’t dead yet. She should be, but somehow…

Looking up, Ezilene saw grayish clouds, obscured by white feathers. She looked over to Darcello. He was looking away from her, shifting in a way that suggested he knew exactly what he was doing, but didn’t want to think about it. For the first time in the Overworld, she smiled genuinely. 

“You know,” she said in a soft voice, “I think.. you could be a good one, after all.”

Darcello wasn’t sure what that meant, exactly, but he wasn’t about to contradict it either. When he spoke, his voice was quiet, as if he was afraid she might actually hear him. “I think I could say the same for you.”

Ezilene barked a laugh that was more incredulous than amused, startling him slightly. “Don’t say that!”

“Why not?”

Seeing his genuine confusion, Ezilene looked him in the eye for the first time. His eyes were blue. “Because,” she said in a sincere tone (one that she hadn’t really meant to use), “I’m a demon.”

“Yes. Yes, I know.”

“And demon’s aren’t ‘good’.”

He looked at her, and quirked an eyebrow. “Maybe you’re bad at it then.”

Strictly speaking, that wasn’t polite, but Darcello was saved from ever knowing that by Ezilene’s quiet laughter. Afterwards, they stood in the rain for a little while longer. 

This wasn’t part of God’s Plan, per say, but She decided to allow it. Having an angel and a demon laughing together, on one of the most important days of creation wasn’t part of Her Plan at all.

But, strictly speaking, Her plan just may be up for the challenge.


	2. The New Sin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Long chapter. Set in ancient times, where Darcello next encounters his demonic counterpart. Again, Idk if I’ll continue this much. So, well just wait and see, eh? :)

It was some time before Darcello met that particular demon again. Or any demon, for that matter. Some decades had passed, and, despite being a solitary creature by nature, the angel was beginning to wonder if he really had wanted to sign up for a permanent post on Earth. 

Of course, the Archangel Gabriel had suggested he take it, and a Principality like Darcello was not one to go against his superiors. Not where they were in the right, anyway.

But by this time, Adam and Eve had begun to populate the earth. Darcello rather wondered how they did it, what with the confined gene pool, but all chromosomes seemed accounted for, so he didn’t press the issue.

But that wasn’t the point. The point was the desert was no longer just empty dunes. There were now ramshackle housing, tents and animal skins and even a market place! It was in this region (somewhere around the midsection of the East) that Darcello found himself, quite by accident, in the company of a demon.

“Darcello!” The carefree voice had called out. “My good fellow, how are you?”

The good fellow in question had turned this way and that, but when his blue eyes finally found the demon, they were assaulted by a huge smile and laughing yellow orbs staring back at him.

The smile disconcerted him more than he’d like to admit.

“Um, hello Ezilene,” Darcello said. Ezilene wrinkled her nose, which was of similar proportions to a button.

“Oh, I’m not Ezilene anymore,” no-longer-Ezilene said with a hint of distaste, “I changed it.”

“Whatever for?”

“Sounded too.. I dunno, snake-y.”

“But weren’t you a snake before? I mean, _literally_ a snake.”

The-Demon-that-is-no-longer-Ezilene huffed, and crossed her arms. “Well, yeh, but I’m not any more, am I?”

Darcello found no fault in this logic. So instead of arguing he just asked, “Well, what is your name then? Marianus? Kittiwrin? Lydiavola?”

She gave him a strange look. “It’s Elizene.”

“Oh.” A pause. Darcello took a moment to inspect the demon’s physical form. He hadn’t thought of it before, but it would probably be nice to recognize his adversary on Earth, if they were both staying there.

Elizene had chosen her form nicely, though it was somewhat out of character for a typical demon. 

Her body was on the small side, though her figure was light and he could see it being pleasing. Her skin was the color of fresh soil, or perhaps scrolls, if they were old enough to be darkened by age. She had light golden freckles across her cheeks and collarbone, and if Darcello squinted (which he didn’t) he could see them being mistaken as pretty-ish, intermittent scales. Her eyes were a startling serpentine yellow. Her hair was a rosy brown— a fading sunset color that swirled about her head in a cloud of curls. She was female, but her chest was covered by dark green robes.

Darcello realized he’d been staring. He cleared his throat, and hoped the blood (which he wasn’t used to) hadn’t rushed to his face (which he wasn’t used to needing to put under regulation).

“Have you been in the area long?” He asked, with the barest hint of sincere interest.

She shrugged, and grinned. “Not long. What about you? What are you up to down here, O Mighty One?”

Now he was sure his face was red. He didn’t like this demon. He coughed, delicately. “N-not much. Just.. minor miracles, and the like. Ahm.” It occurred to Darcello that he probably shouldn’t tell this enemy anything. But maybe if he could get _her_ information… 

“Wh-what about you?” He asked, blinking too much. “Have— Have you done any miracle? Uh, demonic ones, I mean? Obviously.”

Elizene’s grin widened, showcasing her dimple again. “Oh, not many miracles on my end.”

“Oh, thank heavens,” Darcello whispered to himself, immensely relieved.

“Have invented a new sin, though.”

“Well that’s nice but I really must be go— YOU WHAT?”

Elizene’s smile opened into a tinkling laugh, that didn’t suit her demonic nature at all. From her robe, she pulled out a funny cube, with little black dots on each side. “I call it ‘dice’. Though, if I’m right, then the sin can be applied to lots of different objects like it.”

Darcello watched as the demon expertly wove the cube in and out of her fingers, then threw it up in the air with another just like it. The two dice fell to the dirt by their feet, bouncing on the stones until they both came to a stop. A dot on each dice faced the sun.

“Ooh hoo hoo,” Elizene chuckled, “Snake eyes. How fitting.”

She quickly scooped them up and offered them to Darcello. “Wanna have a go?”

He backed up so fast he almost knocked over a merchant in the process. “No, no, definitely not,” he said, his blue eyes blown up to enormous proportions. “That’s a sin. You are not tempting me today, you serpent.”

“Oh poshy-boy, you’re no fun.”

When Elizene finally took the time to look at her companion’s face (and saw the genuine fear and panic), her desire to cause trouble wilted. Just a little.

“Well, I’m not sure yet if it’s a sin,” Elizene said reassuringly, uncertainly. “I just.. well, it’s fun, and I know your lot disapproves of fun, so it stands to reason that it’s a sin.”

Darcello sniffed. “We do NOT, disapprove of ‘fun’. Just.. just like how your lot does it.”

Elizene shrugged, and pocketed the dice. “Eh, suit yourself. Have a nice eternity, Darcello. Don’t think we’ll see each other much around anymore— I hear the humans are expanding.”

Darcello made a little ‘mmm’ sound, and hoped this demon would just go away already. The demon nodded her head slightly, flashed him a grin, and obliged. 

After she was gone, Darcello sighed heavily, and ran a hand over his perfect face. He needed to report this back to head office. _Heavens, he was in trouble._ After finding a somewhat deserted corner of the marketplace, Darcello knelt and closed his eyes. He channeled the inner voice, and reached out, hoping to be heard.

_“O l'rd, thee has't hath sent me h're to earth, but i am unsure if 't be true thou art acknown of the… ahm, oth'r side’s… doing the same. T is a goodyear nam'd Ezilene, well, actually, the lady goeth by Elizene anon, but that’s not the pointeth. The lady is up to things, thee seeth. The lady just did invent a whole sineth! On h'r owneth! Well, the lady doesn’t knoweth yet if 't be true it’s a sineth, but i’m quaint sure t is. The lady hast than sinful behold about h'r. Concluded, be it, prithee doth not alloweth our people beest hath caught unawares by this. I shalt doth ev'rything in mine own pow'r to—”_

**“Good Lord, Darcello. Do people actually talk like that down there?”**

Darcello blinked. Then he closed his eyes again. “ _Well, mine own l'rd, those gents don’t, very much, i just bethought yond t wouldst beest bett'r to speaketh this way at which hour addressing someone as holy and divine as yourself, O God Almighty—”_

 **“Oh, Piss off, Darcello. Just speak without the fluffy language. I can barely understand a single word you say otherwise.** **_Jesus.”_ **

He frowned. _“Is this.. uh, God, I am speaking to?”_

He thought he could hear the other voice groan. **“No, God, no. This is Gabriel. The archangel? I handle the direct calls. Now— what was the issue?”**

Darcello licked his lips, which were somehow very dry. _“Well, ahm, there’s a demon here—”_

 **“Yes, the demon Ezilene, we know,”** Gabriel interrupted (a trifle rudely, if Darcello was being honest [which he always was]).

 _“Actually,”_ he corrected, _“she goes by Elizene now—”_

**“GET TO THE POINT. I don’t have all day.”**

_“Right. Well. Um. She just invented a new sin.”_

A pause.

_“And I think she plans on tempting the innocents, who don’t yet know it’s a sin.”_

Another pause, but at the tail-end of this one, Darcello actually got an answer. **“We’ll look into it. Thank you for the intel, Darce-man.”**

‘Darce-man’ shifted uncomfortably. _“Well, uh, Gabriel, sir, what should I… do about it? In the meantime?”_

There was a long-suffering sigh, as if the archangel was blowing out all the air in his lungs and rubbing his temples in annoyance. **“Christ, I dunno. Just.. just do what you normally do.”**

_“What? But what about the innocents?”_

**“If they’re truly innocents, they won’t be tempted to sin. You know the rules. Now, I, uh, gotta goooo…”**

There was a faint clicking sound, and the celestial connection was severed. Darcello was back on the street, alone and kneeling in the dust. He got up and brushed himself off. Had he been a less divine being, he would have grumbled as he did so.

As he turned the corner out of the backstreet, the angel was confronted with a most peculiar sight. 

The demon Elizene, was crouching with her back to him, looking into the eyes of three or so children. They were grubby and dressed in rags, the oldest was probably about six. As he watched, a smaller child took something from the demon's hand, and threw it onto the ground, where it bounced and rolled to a stop in the dust. _Dice._

As Darcello watched in horror, Elizene scooped the young toddler up into her arms and spun it around in the air, laughing uproariously as the child squealed (perhaps in fear?). 

“NOOOOOO!” Quick as a wink, Darcello was across the street and tackling the demon. She cried out and dropped the child, who screamed as they hit the ground.

Just as quickly, Elizene was kicking him away most rudely, probably leaving bruises. “What the FUCK was that for?” She hissed, her teeth growing a little sharper.

“You.. were… tempting… a.. child…,” Darcello panted, still on the ground. “That’s… not… r..right…”

Elizene swore under her breath and threw her hands up in the air, exasperated. Then her gaze returned to him. He caught his breath. Her eyes were molten gold, flaming… they were… quite fine, really.

“Well, good for you,” she snarled, “You just saved a kid from having a laugh. And knocked them to the ground to stop it.”

Darcello was about to argue that, technically, _she_ had been the one to drop the child, but Elizene had already turned away.

She was talking to the child, who was crying. “Hey… hey, buddy. You alright? Ooh, that’s a real bad scrape ya got there. Want my friend here to take a look at it?”

The kid nodded, sniffling. Elizene whipped around to Darcello, and jerked her head towards the kid. He understood. Sighing, he stepped forward, and healed the little sinner’s scrapes and bruises with a wave of his hand.

“Here,” he heard Elizene whisper to the child, “Keep these. Consider it uh.., a birthday present.”

“Wussa birfday?”

“Don’t worry about it, bud. Now run along now.”

She patted the child on the head, he took the dice, and then the children ran off. They were too far away to know for sure, but Darcello thought they may have been laughing. Then Elizene whirled on him.

“What the HEAVEN were you thinking?! What? Is it _normal_ angel protocol to hurt CHILDREN?”

Darcello reddened and looked down. He hadn’t hurt the kid. He was just saving them from a life of sin and infamy. _She_ was the one at fault here.

When he didn’t answer, Elizene glared at him again. “You know,” she said bitingly, “I was joking before. When I said ‘Have a nice eternity.’ But now, Satan, I hope I don’t see you again until eternity. I was just trying to- it was that kid’s birthday. He just wanted a laugh, and you— Oh Satan give me strength. You are a _lousy_ angel.”

With that, she shot him one last hateful look, and stalked away, her cloud of light, rusty brown hair bouncing behind her. 

Had Darcello been less polite, he would have shouted nasty words after her. In fact, he was sorely tempted to do so. _Vexing creature!_ In a moment of childish anger, he stuck his tongue out at her retreating back. Then, remembering himself, he resolved to never see her again, if he could help it. 

Elizene was a demon. He was an angel. It made sense why they would hate each other.

What didn’t make sense, however, was the briefest twinge of _want_ deep in the angel’s stomach. He wanted to see her again. 

He had never been tempted like this. But he was stronger than it— He had to be. No, he would not fall to the wiles of the demon Elizene. No matter _what._


	3. Scrolls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> LOVE! Cute banter, Hurt/comfort. Set first in Phoenicia, then Alexandria. Long chapter. Honestly, loving this AU

As it so happened, Darcello did not succumb to the wiles of Elizene any time soon. It was a century and a half before they even saw each other again; it had given the angel plenty of time to think.

He had… not been doing the right thing, in the marketplace. Sure, he saved an innocent child from a life of possible sin, but that was just it.  _ Possible.  _ He didn't know for sure if it  _ was _ a sin. And the child looked like it had been.. smiling, before he had come in and wrecked everything. 

He had really buggered things up this time.

And what bothered him even more than his (unintentionally) harming a child (even minorly), was that a DEMON had been more concerned about this child’s welfare than he had! Elizene hadn’t seemed mad about her foiled temptation, but instead that he had hurt the kid! It was… disconcerting.

Maybe she was faking it. She probably was. But it didn’t really matter, in the long run. He had done the wrong thing. 

And he spent the last century and a half wracked with guilt. 

So, it really was a relief when he spotted a familiar rusty cloud of hair and golden freckles, in a shop in Phoenicia. Elizene was dressed in balck robes, her hijab scandalously loose around her face (allowing him to recognize her hair color). Darcello, smoothing down his own pale blue robes, walked over to her— slowly, as to not startle.

“Hullo, ahm, Elizene.”

She looked up, and he was once again caught by her lovely golden eyes. After all those decades, they still hadn’t changed. 

“How… have you been?” He asked.

Elizene stared at him. Her lip curled and she pointedly looked away. So much for her previous… friendliness? He wasn’t sure what to call it. Whatever it was though, it was gone now.

He swallowed, thickly. “I.. came to say I’m sorry.”

She shifted in her robes, and picked up another scroll. Darcello rolled his eyes, just slightly.

“You’re really going to make this difficult, aren’t you?”

She didn’t reply, verbally, but he thought he heard a scoff.  _ Insufferable demon. _

“I was wrong, back there. With the child and the market and the dice. I.. acted without thinking. You might not have even been tempting that child.”

“Oh I was,” Elizene finally said. Darcello’s head snapped up. “But they would have been fine. It was a starter sin— the kind of one that leads to others, but you can stop with a little will.”

This time, the angel didn’t even try to conceal his eye rolling.

When he looked back to Elizene, she was alternating between studying the scrolls and glancing up at him with a sort of half-amused smirk.

“Have you seen these? Those Phoenicians, boy I tell ya, they know how to invent.”

Darcello (thought he might not like it) found his interest piqued. He leaned forward to study over her shoulder. “What is it?”

“It’s a scroll,” she explained, “They figured out a way to put spoken words onto paper. That way, they can communicate even when they’re not face to face.” 

She glanced over at him, her own face very close to hers. She shrugged, and smiled. “Just struck me as the kinda thing you would like.”

Darcello hummed appraisingly, and took the scroll. His blue eyes scanned quickly over the symbols, memorizing them without effort. “What do they mean?” He asked, not looking up.

“Hm. Weelll,” Elizene said, definitely smirking now. She pointed to one that looked like a wonky square. “This one means ‘LOOK’.” Then she indicated a green flower-ish shape. “And this one means ‘OUT.’”

Darcello frowned at the parchment. He turned it first this way, then that way. “Look.. out?” He repeated, “What does that signify? Look Out?”

“Yes,  _ look out _ . As in,  _ be on guard.  _ As in,  _ watch you back you stupid angel because I sure as heaven am gonna get you back for that ruckus in the marketplace and don’t you forget it.” _

Darcello squinted, mildly confused. “...wait, there aren’t possibly enough characters on this to sa—“ He looked up into the demon’s laughing golden eyes. He groaned. “Oh, yes. Ha ha. Very clever.”

“I thought so,” Elizene grinned. “Now, don’t go thinking I’ve forgiven you. I haven’t. But I’m not mad anymore— just vengeful. Remember that.”

Darcello raised his eyebrows. “...Well then.”

She grinned at him. Demons really should have dimples. It was distracting. “Well then indeed. Ta ta, Darcello the Principality. May we meet on less domestic terms in the future.”

She offered him a sweeping bow, which he ignored pointedly, and missed the moment when Elizene left the store. He couldn’t say he was sorry for it, really. The demon was starting to become a somewhat familiar face in his life, but only because Darcello’s mortal acquaintances on Earth were mostly… short lived (excuse the pun). But, as it turned out, the demon (in this instance) was right. The next time they saw each other was less than fifty years later (a mere blip on the immortal lifespan), in Egypt.

Or, more specifically, Alexandria.

Or, even more specifically, what was left of it.

In the years since he had left Elizene’s company, Darcello (despite himself) had grown rather fond of the human tool of writing. There were precious few things in the mortal realm that he liked. Well, as an angel, he felt unconditional love towards all things, but he did have a few favorites. Nature, for one. Then rain. But perhaps his greatest love was books. He couldn’t get enough of them.

They were just so… interesting! They made him forget, for a while, that he was ever alone, or melancholy, or nervous. He would get lost in the words, entranced by the sentence work. He loved everything about books— the musty smell, the feeling of paper under his fingertips, the black ink against the pale page. He loved it all.

So when the smoke hit his face, making his eyes water and smart as the waves of heat pushed him back, Darcello felt more than physical pain. He could feel the books, thousands of them, all untold stories and histories and memories, disintegrating around him. 

He felt like he could just stand there. Let the flames devour him. He could deal with the paperwork. What he couldn’t deal with was the sheer amount of human cruelty that went into the fire. All those books, gone, gone forever..

Darcello opened his arms and closed his eyes. Tears leaked from his eyelashes— and not just from the heat. He could feel the biting sting of the flames as they licked at his robes, and just as he knew he wouldn’t be able to take the heat anymore, impossibly strong hands wrapped around his waist and lifted him into the air.

He was flying through the sky, smoke clinging to his clothes as the night air put on the sparks on his arms and legs. He hung limp in the strong arms around him, not fighting it. The smell of the fire filled his throat and burned at his eyes. 

Soon, he was set down, on a rooftop some ways away from the fire. He opened his eyes, still watering profusely, to see who had saved him. Fine, golden slits stared back at him. 

Ripping Elizene’s arms off of him, Darcello scrambled away delirious and sobbing. “You! Th-this was your doing!”

She didn’t refute it. Instead, she just cried, almost angrily, “Darcello, you bloody idiot! What were you thinking?! You could have been discorporated!”

He was shaking with emotion. His face was twisted into a painful expression of pure, unusually human, agony. “You did this,” he spat, his voice breaking,  _ “You did this.” _

The demon moved towards him, looking concerned, then seemed to think better of it. Her hands were folded nervously in her lap. She looked at him with her eyebrows twisted above her face.

“Darcello, listen to me. I did not do this. Now, please calm down. I don’t like seeing you.. like this.”

She moved toward him again furtively, but the angel held up his arm in a defensive gesture. “Don’t touch me, O Serpent,” he shook out, “Haven’t you done enough harm?”

“I didn’t do this, Darcello! You have to believe me!”

“Well why should I?” He asked, wretchedly. “You’re a demon— I should smite you on sight. How many people did you hurt in the fire? TELL ME!”

Elizene grabbed his shoulders and forced Darcello to look her in the eyes. When she spoke, her voice was trembling; brittle with sincerity and broken with hurt. 

“I swear by all that I know, I did not cause this to happen. I had no part in it. Please. Believe me. I _would_ _never_ do this to—“ 

She cut herself off, abruptly. Then she started again, this time looking down instead of at him. “I would never do this.”

Despite his shaken mind and hollowed out emotions, Darcello sensed she was telling the truth. Elizene hadn’t caused the fire. The humans did that.

How was he supposed to love them— mankind— if they did not love each other? If all they caused was pain, and all they worked for burned at their own hands.

He choked back a sob, and acting without thinking, buried his head in Elizene’s shoulder. She acted surprised, stiffening, but she didn’t pull away. Neither did she embrace him back, he noticed. 

He held her, for a while, on that rooftop. It felt good, but he couldn’t enjoy it. Not with everything that had happened that night. Under the stars, as the city of Alexandria burned, the angel pulled back just as his companion began to soften in his arms.

“I-I’m sorry,” sputtered Darcello, his breath still rattling through his rib cage, “I- I didn’t mean to do that.”

“‘S alright,” Elizene said, somewhat uncomfortably. “You were upset.”

Darcello didn’t answer. He just stared out at the fire, quietly allowing the last of his teardrops to evaporate into the overheated night.

“Thank you for saving me,” he said softly. Elizene had to restrain a groan.

“Don’t  _ say _ that!” Darcello chuckled dryly, but she wasn’t finished. “Seriously,” she said, “For hell’s sake, don’t ever say I did you ANY favors. I could get in a lot of trouble just talking to you.”

Darcello nodded. “Yes,” he said, faintly, almost to himself, “I dare say you could.”

Slowly, Elizene came back into her more amiable self, and she grinned at him. “Tell you what, to pay me back, you point me in the direction of.. hm…. the most EASILY persuaded priest you know— he’ll go to Hell, then we’ll call it even!”

Darcello gaped at her. “What?!” He cried, shocked and appalled, “No! No! A thousand times, no!”

“Pleeeease, angel?” Elizene wheedled. 

(Darcello’s stomach did a funny flip-flop when she called him ‘angel,’ but he ignored it)

“Pleeeeeeeeease! I DID just save your life.”

“Not my life, just extra paperwork.”

_ “Still.” _

Darcello hesitated. Finally, giving in, he told her the name of a priest he had met a few years back, one he was sure was halfway to Hell already. “Octavian of Bracciano. Italy.”

“Thank you,” Elizene said, grinning wickedly, “VERY much.”

“Now don’t  _ you  _ go thanking me, you.. you  _ serpent _ you!”

“Oh, Darcello, you really know how to flatter a girl, dontcha,” she quipped lightly. 

“But you’re not a girl.”

“And you’re not on topic.”

“What was the topic again?”

“Not sure. I forget.”

“Me too.”

After that, they sat in silence, watching the city burn and the constellations fade into everlasting night. Eventually, after about a half hour, Elizene grunted and heaved herself to her feet.

She shook out her wings, which had just materialized from under her robes. They were dark and crow like, shimmering and colorfully reflective around the ebony overtones. 

“Well, I best be off,” said Elizene, popping her lips with finality.

“Oh. Cheers, then.”

“Cheers.” But before she could take off, Elizene took a moment to look back at the angel sprawled across the rooftop. She quirked her lips into a sort-or smile.

“So, you like books, huh angel?”

“What? Oh yes. Yes— very much so.”

“Well,” she said, drawing out the syllable. “I’ll have to get you one for the solstice, then. Evening, Darcello.”

“Eveni— Wait, what?”

But before he could flag her down and ask the demon what the hell she was doing, implying that she would send him gifts, Elizene had already turned away. And with a cheeky, dimpled grin that made him feel all squiggly inside, she was gone, leaving the angel on the rooftop alone, with nothing to keep him company but the stars, the smoke, and the feelings that were getting harder and harder to ignore.


End file.
